Lost happiness
by kimicatdemon
Summary: A nice two part story concerning Neinheart and his relationship with Lilin. and his feelings about it. I'm better at writing the story than the title and the summary so I suggest relying on that more than this.
1. Chapter 1

The glow of morning had already spread across the horizon of the harbor early in the morning. Many of the ship crew was already scurrying about, helping each other get their ship ready for the next voyage, whenever that may be…

To some extent, half the town was already going. It seemed like the deadest part in the town were the hours twelve to four. It was already at least three days in this new town, and Neinheart had already memorized this much.

He rose out of bed around eight or so. He had to help Tru set his new business up and hopefully have it running next week. It didn't help that Tru got drunk every night instead of actually going to bed. Sometimes Neinheart felt more like a nanny opposed to his cousin, but what could he do? He walked down stairs and looked around. It was really quiet. Tru was clearly not awake yet. But another thing that stood out to him was how warm it was.

Back on Rien, every day was cold. He would have to jump in his coats every day just to stay warm and hope he didn't catch a cold. Inside was nice, but in order to survive, he found himself needing to go outside into the cold first thing for everything. He slipped on a jacket out of habit and walked into the kitchen. Someone had to make breakfast…

Neinheart had a small meal started up when Tru walked in the kitchen, "Ah? Heya kiddo!" he said brightly in the morning. "What cha cookin? Smells good!"

Neinheart looked over at his cousin, "It's a scramble plate with eggs in it. It'll be ready soon." He sighed out. He watched as Tru went and chugged a glass of water down. Clearly the man was still suffering from some kind of hang over. Neinheart looked back at his skillet, "You know Tru, I do wish you would stop drinking so much…"

Tru let out a laugh, "Ahh, don't worry lil' chap. I'll be fine! I don't really over dose anyway!"

Neinheart sighed again and decided it wasn't worth arguing with him. Neinheart looked down at the skillet and wondered about what he had put in it. It was actual fresh bacon, not the frozen sort that he had grown accustomed to. "_It's certainly a lot thicker." _ He thought to himself. He felt a bit silly looking at the food the way he did. Fresh ingredients were a lot different from frozen. Typically the colors were more intense and they seemed to be fuller in a way. Neinheart looked at it again and felt it looked good enough. He turned the stove off and put the skillet on a stove top that was still cool. "Breatfast is done." He announced.

Tru grabbed some plates and filled them up with the breakfast meal, "Who boy, you sure can cook!" he said as he bit into it. "Must be from our related blood because my mom couldn't cook for nothin!" he announced.

Neinheart himself took a small bit and shook it off. He sighed and looked at Tru, "So what all do we need to get done today, Tru?"

Tru looked up at his cousin, "Hmm?" he began to think, "Hmm… well, I need to get those files in those boxes in order. " He scratched his head, "We got a lot of work done yesterday though, so I think we can just explore the tow—"

"Don't try to get lazy now." Neinheart scolded to Tru, "Your business isn't fully up yet and you only have enough funds to get through one month like this."

"Yeah, but if we don't get to know anyone in the town, what good is a social business?" Tru retorted.

Neinheart winced a bit. He hated to be proven wrong, but he hated being proven wrong by Tru even more. "Fine. I suppose you could go out and I'll sort the files." He ate more of his breakfast.

"Sweet!" Tru cheered. "I plan on talkin to some of the Viking descendants. They'd probably be great help with us in the future, eh?"

Neinheart just quietly continued his meal.

Tru accepted his silence and changed the subject, "Eh? Kid, why you wearin a jacket? It's like… 80 degrees outside already."

"It's a habit." Neinheart remarked sharply, "I don't plan on going out with it anyway."

"Well if you want something to wear over your shirt, how about a cloak or something that could breathe a bit more. You're gonna bake in that thing come this afternoon."

Neinheart looked at his cousin, "How about I worry about me. If it gets hot, I'll take it off."

Tru whined a bit, "Why you gotta be so mean to me, Neinny?"

"If I have told you once, I have told you a thousand times, I hate that name." Neinheart looked at Tru coldly.

"But I've called you that since you were young! You were Neinny and Lilin was little Lil—"

Neinheart slammed his fist on the table loudly, breaking Tru off mid-sentence. "I don't like it. End of discussion."

Tru stared at his cousin, realizing that the last snap was probably the last warning he would give to him before making him work all day. He had managed to get the day to go socialize with others and saw no need in trying to get that revoked. Even if he was the older one, it was pretty clear that Neinheart had better skills and getting things started than he did.

That afternoon, Tru walked out to go meet with others in an attempt to promote his business. Neinheart, on the other hand, stayed back and looked through many files that Tru had stored in boxes. In these boxes were the records of generation upon generation of his clan. They had quite a vast amount of knowledge. Some were even said to be so smart that they could tell the future.

But none of that was important anymore. The island of Rien was all behind him… all of them actually. When the island's snow began to melt, it caused many avalanches and cracks to appear. Many of the islanders took it as a sign that the curse was simply fading. They looked for the heroes a bit more before saying that it was too much. They felt that the curse would lift and the heroes could come back. That or they felt they were never there to begin with. After all, they only had one book that mentioned them.

But Neinheart wasn't stupid. He knew there was only two reasons the curse would suddenly be lifting after centuries, and that was either that the black mage was actually dead or worse… he was coming back.

He tried. He tried so hard to find some clue to the heroes, but every time he felt let down by them. They never threw him any sort of clue or any sign that they ever existed. At this point, you could say he wished that legend never existed.

To an extent, Tru still believed in it, unable to shake off centuries of belief from himself, but Neinheart… Neinheart had given up entirely. How could he believe that they existed? His clan was on that island for centuries themselves, but they never found anything! Not a single clue. How could they all say "the book was true" after so long? How could they not give into sense and accept that it was fake? Were they scared of failure?

He wasn't like that. He refused to be that way. He could accept this failure if it meant he could move forward. He could accept it and find a better way to focus on the true motive behind finding the heroes in the first place: defeating the terror known as the black mage.

But… even though he could accept this failure, and even though he could move forward, it did him no good what so ever to know that the most foolish one of his clan was someone of his own flesh and blood. His sister. He shook that thought off.

"I've got to focus on this." Neinheart told himself. He started to go through the record and started to sort them based on year. The closer and closer it got towards the present, Neinheart started seeing familiar names. Some of the names were long gone, a few were even still alive today, walking around Victoria and living normal lives like they should be.

Not on some cold island, isolated from the world where no one would know you ever lived… Neinheart shook his head again. "_Damn it. I should go back to older material." _He thought to himself. He flipped through the paper work but found his mind wandering again…

That day was cold as usual, but Neinheart couldn't help but feel it was colder than usual. Was it because half of the house was packed? He looked around the corner and saw Lilin getting ready to go outside to get some fire wood.

"You know, you could just come with us and not have to do that at all…" Neinheart remarked.

The girl looked back to him and closed her eyes, "No. I'll be staying." She said as she calmly walked out the door.

Neinheart's eye widened a bit again before he found himself chasing her outside. "Don't be foolish, Lilin! How do you expect to even survive here? The whole town is leaving! This isn't just some two or three people walking out, it's the whole town!"

Lilin simply ignored him and picked up a log. It seemed to be a bit heavy for her tiny frame, but she got by. Neinheart walked up to her and took it from her arms, "Here…" he sighed, "You can't even carry these things."

Neinheart walked with Lilin back into the cabin, "What are you going to do when we're gone? You can't fish, you certainly can't row a boat, You can't even-!"

"Tru said he would come over and bring supplies." Lilin interrupted, "And as for the logs, I just have to adjust to their weight."

Neinheart gritted his teeth again, "Lilin , this is foolish! You can't think I am going to be okay leaving you here just to chase some crazy fairy tale, you're only thirte-!"

"It is NOT a fairy tale!" Lilin snapped at Neinheart, "Just because YOU chose not to believe in it doesn't mean it's not true!"

"How the hell can you believe it?" Neinheart yelled back, "We've done all we can. Our whole clan has, and yet you still expect something to just POP UP one day?"

"I chose to believe these legends." Lilin stated, "They brought our clan here. If I must be the last bit of hope for our forefathers, then so be it."

He couldn't believe it. His sister hadn't packed a thing since the announcement was made to leave Rien, but still. Still! Neinheart just heavily stormed off to his room where he continued to pack his belongings. As he packed he felt a stinging sensation against his eyes, "Stupid… little… crazy!" he muttered as he shoved another book into a bag.

Lilin simply listened for a moment and then took off to make breakfast.

Neinheart snapped to his senses. He looked around and saw papers around the floor, "What was I?" He said to himself before remembering the records.

Ah, there was no way out of this, was there? He would have to finish this… He set up another folder with records in it, focusing solely on the work at hand.

Still, eventually he knew what would happen. His mind would wander again, and he would be reminded yet again of how awful he was.

"_She had her chance to come with us…" _Neinheart started up in his head, "_ All that's important now is moving forward… just… moving… forward." _

He set the last record down on the shelf and looked at them. "There." He told himself. He looked at the clock and saw it was gearing towards five. "Tru might be back soon. I suppose I could start on dinner." He got up and realized that he was still wearing his jacket. He had told Tru that he would take it off when it bothered him, but he was so used to it that he forgot it was even there…

"Ah, I suppose I could take this off…" Neinheart slowly took his jacket off and set it off to the side. With a sigh, he walked towards the kitchen.

As he prepared up some dinner he started to think again, "_I wonder how she's eating… is she getting enough food? I know she can cook and she got to keep all of our rations but…" _Neinheart looked down at the meal the prepped. It was ready to be cooked now, but suddenly, he just felt really drained.

He took a moment to sit down and relax, facing the window which showed the bright sun. It was the same sun he saw on Rien, but right now it seemed so bright. Too bright even. He got up to close the curtains before stopping in his steps.

Outside, he heard the voices of kids playing simple games. He never had the luxury of playing games like hopscotch, so he had always wondered about it. But it was enough. He didn't really like kids that much anyway. He closed the curtain and sat back down. In the back of his mind, the worst possible memory reeled through.

The winter winds were barely noticeable on Rien. Neinheart was dragging along with the others, looking back and hoping Lilin would show up to come along. "_This is stupid." _ He told himself, "_Who would CHOOSE to stay here?" _He grumbled a bit before walking forward.

As the crowd walked forward, Neinheart heard a voice ringing behind him. He turned around quickly and saw Lilin running as fast as she could. "Li-Lilin?" Neinheart asked in a hopeful voice. Maybe, just maybe she had changed her mind?

"N-Neinheart!" She yelled in a loud voice with tears running down her face, "A-Are you really… really just going to up and leave? You're going to just …. Hic…. Give up like that?" She sobbed.

Neinheart had no idea how to respond. He had never seen Lilin cry like this before. The mist she ever sobbed about was when her crayons were broken or a toy went missing, but it wasn't like this. Neinheart was still for a moment before running up and embracing her "Lilin." He started, "Lilin, you have to listen to me. There is nothing here. We can't keep living this way." He tried to explain, "I know you want to believe Lilin, and there is nothing stopping you, but you have to know that everyone else is just tired. We want to be a part of civilization again."

"I don't care about civilization!" She rebutted, "I wanna stay here!" she rubbed her eyes and continued to cry some more, "A-And I don't want you to leave either. It's not fair!"

Neinheart couldn't bare it. This moment was being far too cruel on him. If he were to stay, he would probably be stuck here forever, but if he left, he could find a way to move forward and find a way to defeat the black mage… maybe he could even find people stronger than the five heroes to fight in their stead. "Lilin, I am not staying." He spoke firmly.

Lilin looked up and wiped the tears from her face, "B-But why?"

At this point, he couldn't do it. He couldn't talk to her face to face. He didn't even want to be there anymore. He stood up slowly and turned away, letting his back face his sister, "Because Lilin… I give up on the heroes. I can't find anything and we're running out of time." He stood there, trying to force himself to move forward but found himself aching to hear what could possibly be said next.

"B-But why? Our clan exists to find them! "She sobbed again, her tears were calming down again, but her sadness was still present.

"We can't decide our clan's origins, Lilin." Neinheart spoke, "We can only determine our clans future. And this is the future we have chosen."

And… nothing. It was quiet. Nothing was said and the silence of the wind didn't help much. Neinheart could feel himself sinking further and further into the snow. He knew if he stayed too much longer, he wouldn't ever be able to leave. He picked his bags up and started to walked forward, trying to meet up with the others at the ship that the harbor had set up for them.

"I hate you…." Lilin muttered out. "I hate you!" She said even louder. "You're not my brother!" She yelled again, "I don't have one!" She said before running back to the now deserted village.

Neinheart felt himself sink further into the snow, but pressed forward, hoping that maybe he would feel better if he just got off the island.

Neinheart snapped his eyes open and realized where he was. He also noticed his face was a bit wet from his previous flashback. He looked at his hand, trying to gather the situation in his head again.

Tru walked in the door at this moment too. "Hey buddy!" he spoke cheerfully, "You're never going to believe what happened today! I met up with those Viking people and- huh?" Tru looked at his cousin ad saw the tears running down his cheeks. "Hey Neinny, are you okay?" He placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort his younger cousin.

"No…" Neinheart jumped up and answered abruptly, "No, I am not okay." He started speaking promptly. He jumped out of the seat and started pacing around, muttering things to himself, "Tru, what if… what if we just made a bad choice?" He started to ask. Tru noted that Neinheart was talking much faster than usual and held a great deal of uncertainty on his face, "Should I have forced her? I know I could have if I tried but… No, I don't think she would have liked that, but maybe we could have come to some kind of agreement or something… maybe that could have worked out?" Neinheart asked himself as he paced the floor.

Tru automatically know what Neinheart was talking about and jumped up, "Hey Neinheart, look, settle down and take a seat. You need to relax."

"Relax?" Neinheart cried out, "Are you out of your mind? My sister could be eaten by wolves or something right now and you are telling me to _relax?"_

"Now Neinheart, you know the wolves on Rien are pretty docile. There wasn't a simgle wolf attack on history." Tru said.

"Yes, but there was also a lot more people!" Neinheart yelled, "She could be sick or hurt. What if one of those logs crush her?"

"Now you're just getting paranoid." Tru spoke in a more serious tone. "Sit down Neinheart."

"I refuse to do that, Truth!" Neinheart yelled out.

Using Tru's full name was something Neinheart and Lilin rarely ever did. If they did it was typically pretty serious. He was able to see at this point, Neinheart was just freaking out and needed to get the worry out of his system.

"I…I need to go back… I can't do this. She could get hurt or worse!" Neinheart started to say to himself.

"Feel free to go back," Tru announced loudly. Neinheart looked over at him and say him take a bit of a yawn before finishing his statement, "But if you do, don't ever expect to come back. I can tell right now what would happen if you return."

Neinheart stared at Tru. He stopped and registered what Tru had just said, and leaned against a wall before sinking to the ground. "This… this isn't fair…. This isn't fair at all." He cried. At this point, he wasn't even trying to hold back any tears he had.

His sister had begged him to stay and he left her there alone. If anything happened to her at all, who would be to blame? Lilin for her choice of staying behind or himself for leaving her there. He couldn't get a straight answer. He couldn't even think right. Scenario after scenario played out in his head, each one getting worse than the next. He couldn't handle this…

Just before Neinheart had the chance to tell Tru that he wanted to go, Tru brought up his own two cents. "You know Neinheart…" He started up, "She's not a weak girl. She's very strong in terms of spirit and determination. I don't think she could be knocked out that easily, do you?"

"But… she's just a little gi—" Neinheart started up

"She's growing up." Tru stated, "This is just the path she has chosen to grow up on. You chose your own. I know it feels odd now, but just keep in mind that you can't baby someone like her forever." He chuckled a bit, "She's probably get pissed after a while."

Neinheart stopped and simply stared at Tru. His gaze was just empty and tired, unable to find any humor in what he just said.

"Why don't you go lay down for a bit?" Tru advised. "You look like you could use some rest."

Neinheart looked at the ground and realized he was probably right. Neinheart slowly stood up and made his way up to his bedroom. He could tell from there that Tru had taken the meat he had prepared and had started cooking it. But it didn't matter. Right now, He was just tired of everything. He wanted to move forward, he really wanted to, but what he had to give up in order doing so was too much. It was leaving a void in him that Tru simply could not fill in for.

As he fell asleep, he held a small glimmer of hope that one day; his sister would prove him wrong and prove that the legends were real.


	2. Chapter 2

Many years had passed since then. Neinheart had grown into being the empress of Maple world's right hand man, taking on the task of planning out the course of action needed to be taken by her knights, whom he also trained.

It was a bit busy at times. He found himself in a pinch and constantly working with a book in hand, but at last, he felt like he had made some progress in find a way to defeat the terror of the black mage from maple world.

While this was a good thing, Neinheart would agree that it didn't work well for his view of the world. In fact, you could say that working for the empress of all of Maple world made him hate people even more so. He recalled wondering how so few people knew of the terror that once threatened Maple world to the degree it did. Forgetting the heroes he could understand, but how could anyone forget something like the Black Mage? Were they all ignorant to their past? It was like none of them ever cared to pick up a history book or something…

Still, through the empress's words and charm, he managed to calm himself down enough to find the needed knights. He would carefully go through all of the applications they received and evaluate if they were truly in the best interest to train. If so, he would send them an invite and letter of approval. If he deemed them unworthy, he would simply toss the application. He went through this process day in and day out.

At this point in time, Neinheart had let his mind roam. No longer did he lash out in thoughts of his sister, but rather, he managed to focus on the empress in her stead. After a while of using her to "fill a void" so to speak, he found himself worrying more about her safety than the one of his own flesh and blood. Yes, there were moments when he felt awful, but he was able to quickly ignore such moments. He had a job now and a huge role in the fight against the black mage. He was not about to let family matters get in the way of this, even if it made him feel beyond guilty at times. After all, Lilin had chosen to stay by herself! It's not like anything that happened would be his fault. After all, he did warn her…

But alas, family is a strange thing. Just when you think you have gotten them off fully, you look back down and see they are still attached as firmly as ever. Like a piece of gum on your shoe that simply doesn't want to leave.

Neinheart was working his usual business. He typically had a small set up in front of Cygnus and Shinsoo, simply to ensure that no one saw the empress without him knowing it. He had to ensure that anyone whom ever reached the empress reached her with a cause, not for simple chatter. She had much more important things to worry about. Still, many people would curiously come up trying to get word in. Some would even say they had "great news of importance" to deliver. Neinheart had to carefully go over everything, simply to see it was just some written up newspaper analysis.

It wasn't exactly the best job when it came to regaining faith in humanity but someone had to do it. Given how much Maple world acknowledged the black mage, Neinheart wasn't even sure he felt safe trying to leave it to anyone else.

Neinheart was trying to fix any sort of errors in some received information he received from Victoria. "No… That can't be…." He looked in his book, "Ah, I see what happened. I'll just fix that up. That's the third time this has happened…" he muttered to himself, "I suppose I should send out a notice informing other to be more careful of the information they send." He said before setting his pen down. "Well, that's that report. What else did I receive?" Neinheart asked himself before looking around in his book.

Around this time, a large figure approached Neinheart. He was a tall figure with dark skin and white hair. He was slightly taller than Neinheart, which he himself noted to be an accomplishment upon first seeing him, but he was used to this by now… Neinheart recognized him almost instantly as the man 10 Boogies had hired to carry information to him once before. "_That's odd. I don't seem to recall 10 Boogies having information to report this time…" _He thought to himself, "Can I help you, sir?"

The man pulled a scroll out, "I have a message for the empress." The man looked at Neinheart.

Neinheart stood up, "Hmm?" This was a bit more… serious than before. At least last time he could crack a small joke (despite its sour humor) but this time… "Let me see the letter." He requested. "I am afraid that even if you want to see the letter, I can't allow just anyone to come forth and see her. I am sure you understand why."

The man stared at Neinheart. He felt a small chill in the air as he received a slightly wary look in the eyes. However, in order to deliver the message, he had to comply. He handed the scroll over and watched as Neinheart took it from his hands.

Neinheart opened up the scroll case and slid the paper out. The instant that paper slid out was possibly one of the most frightful moments he had ever encountered. He would recognize the quality of paper anywhere. It took him all of his might not to jump at it, but holding a straight face would be near impossible. He turned around and opened it up. The handwriting was neat and clean, written with a bamboo style pen. He skimmed over it quick and felt his whole body freeze. It was signed with _her_ name.

He turned around promptly, with a much more aggravated look in his eyes; however, his tone was still just as calm as before. "Yes, this letter has some interesting… tid bits…. So to speak… it even speaks of a treasure that only the highest of knights are permitted to know of." His glare was growing fiercer with every word. "I will… tell this to the empress myself. I thank you for this warning; however, I do not think you personally should have to explain to the empress."

The man looked at Neinheart in a bit of shock and worry. He was obviously feeling kind of attacked by the look in Neinheart's eyes. "Ahh, Thank you, but I do feel the need to say that this warning is serious and the black wings could show up he—"

"And how can I trust you on this?" Neinheart remarked sharply. His friendly tone was starting to slip, "For all I know, you could be with the black wings! There's no evidence to go against this, and this is not the place we test things like that. Now, if you would please, leave." Neinheart demanded before going back to his book.

The man simply stared at Neinheart before turning off and walking. Judging by what Neinheart saw from the corner of his eyes, the man seemed a bit hurt by Neinheart's words. But he didn't care. Right now, he needed to know what was going on. How on earth did he get a hold of something like this? Was this really her? Or was he trying to pull the wool over his eyes? How could Lilin know about "seal stones" anyway? Something didn't make sense. Nothing made sense.

He read over the letter over and over, trying to find any way to prove it may be fake, but he found little proof that said otherwise. Neinheart didn't know that man at all, so how is it that Lilin, a girl that refused to leave Rien, would know him? Did he go there himself? Why on earth would he do that? "Something's not adding up." He told himself. How could he answer these questions? Go ask Lilin himself? No… oh no… he could never do that. Just returning to Rien could be a nightmare on its own, especially after the lack of talk with his sister for the past 3 years.

Maybe he could send someone else? … No… No that wasn't the answer either. This was personal business and he shouldn't use the knights for it. Neinheart sighed a bit. What was he going to do to confirm if this is true or no—

Then it hit him. Of course, why had he been so stupid? He could turn to Tru. Of course, his communication with Tru had been poor at best, but at least Tru knew he was off with the empress. He would have never gotten this job if it wasn't for his business, so maybe…

The next day would arrive for Neinheart faster than a day had ever shown up before. That morning, he got set up to leave for Victoria Island himself, something he had not done in quiet awhile. He had made proper arrangements for the chief knights to tackle on a bit of extra work while he got confirmation on the letter.

"Now Mihile, I know you are close by the empress, but please stay by your station and try not to disturb her too frequently." Neinheart remarked, "And Hawkeye, please, for the love of everything on this island, behave yourself. I know you like to throw parities, but I really have no choice but to leave myself."

"Aye aye!" Hawkeye remarked, "I can be pretty reliable when I need to be." He smoothed out.

"I sure hope so." Neinheart sighed. He had spoken with Cygnus the night before, who was clearly displeased with his decision to leave, but she had accepted it was what had to be done. She chose not to be present at his departure, much to his dismay, but he knew this had to be taken care of. He wasn't even too sure how Cygnus would react if she knew his sister was involved, but then again, who knew? She may have already known. It was hard to hide things from her.

As the ship left from Ereve, Neinheart felt his stomach fall into a knot. He was returning to the very harbor he left years ago… It was a really nerve wrecking feeling. How would Tru react? He had thought of sending him a letter, but that would have probably gotten the letter sender involved in personal matters. In short, he was officially going to deal with a personal matter for the first time in quiet awhile for him.

A day or so of travel and he found himself at the foot of the harbor he once called home. He actually went against his own advice and traveled on foot due to this not being a presentation for the empress, but simply for him, although it would benefit the empress. He simply had no idea what he would do if this letter turned out to be real. The threat was too great to ignore, but to focus defenses on Ereve would leave other forces out in the open and prone to attack. If this was a trap, it wasn't a really funny one, and Neinheart would make sure they paid for causing him this much trouble.

He walked about for a short while. He saw a lot of familiar things and a lot of new things. The faces and places of things were fairly similar and the feel of the area was all the same. He just felt that maybe he stood out a bit more than he should have. "_No need to worry." _Neinheart told himself. "_I just need to talk to Tru for a bit, and then be on my way back. It's not like you're staying here anymore. You're supposed to stand out."_

Neinheart looked around. He remembered Tru's building was marked with a giant magnifying glass he purchased while he was drunk one night. He called it the bargain of a life time and purchased it right away. It stayed in his "office" for months before he and Neinheart decided to put it on top of the buildings. It made it stand out more and gave it more notice. "At least that's one thing I won't regret doing…" Neinheart muttered to himself.

After walking a good twenty minutes in the town, Neinheart made his way to the building. It was in the same location as before, marked by the same magnifying glass on the outside. Neinheart sighed, "If he was going to present it, you would think he would at least have the decency to keep it clean."

He looked at the door and saw Tru's sign set to be "OUT FOR LUNCH". Typically this meant his door was locked tight and he was inside cooking lunch, as Neinheart knew Tru didn't like leaving the house simply to go eat unless it was a social occasion. "Either I'm really unlucky today or Tru just needs to update his signs." Neinheart said as he looked underneath a garden rock. He wiped away some of the dirt and found Tru's infamous "spare key".

Neinheart locked him out one night for stay out so late and Tru had to sleep in front of the door. The next day he had a spare key made and set out by the front porch. Neinheart could have easily grabbed it away, but he figured it was probably a good idea to have a spare.

"And years later, I see how right I was…" Neinheart remarked before unlocking the door open. He peered inside of the building and saw Tru had moved his office to the front room. His desk was now proudly the first thing people saw, but the area around it was a mess. "This man…" Neinheart growled to himself.

As soon as he slipped in, he caught smell of something cooking. So Neinheart was right. Tru just needed to update his signs. He tried to think of the best way to confront this situation, varying from walking up on him to just announcing himself. Both of them sounded like a bad idea. He found himself fully inside of his office and stood in front of Tru's kitchen door. What to do, what to do?

It felt like hours went by, or no time went by at all as Neinheart stood there, trying to conclude on the best way to approach his cousin. Sadly nothing came to mind before Tru decided to try to kick the kitchen door open cheerfully. Neinheart blinked and snapped to his senses instantly at the loud noise and retorted with a slam against it with his own arm. That small moment was followed with a loud crashing sound and thud.

"Hey, what the heck?" Tru's voice roared loudly. He slammed the door open again, "Hey what the hell do you think you're doin in he—"

His face met with the highly unimpressed face of Neinheart's.

"Huh?" He started up, "W-wellll, what do we have here? Is it really who I think it is?" His voice grew cheerful rapidly. He ran up and gave his cousin a giant hug. "I'd recognize that expression of disapproval ANYWHERE!"

"Tru, you know I don't like to be hugged…" Neinheart remarked, but hilariously enough, didn't try to force him off. He supposed Tru did deserve a right to some form of contact of sorts but Neinheart still didn't like the idea of Tru being that open with him.

"Oh come on now, Neinny! I haven't seen you in years!" Tru replied, letting go of him.

"You know I hate that name too!" Neinheart raised his voice, turning a rather light red already. Geez, no wonder he stopped talking to him.

"Maaaan, you leave for years and you don't change one bit!...Well except for your hair, you look a bit like our aunt or something."

"AUNT?" Neinheart remarked in a rather worried tone. Did his hair really make him look that girly?

"Naww, I'm kiddin, you look way too…. Uhh… …" Tru stayed quiet after that, "So what brings you here? Came to see your favorite cousin?"

"Don't you cut that last part off on me, what were you going to say?" Neinheart snapped.

"You have a nice voice!" Tru saved himself with.

"I'm not buying that but I feel I'll have to settle with that anyway…" Neinheart sighed. Usually in the past he would have made Tru finish but apparently his new job made him a bit jaded to pushing for information he didn't really need.

"Ah, don't worry. Anyway, what's up? I haven't heard from you in years!" Tru laughed. "I would sit ya down for some lunch, but… uhh…"

Tru and Neinheart faced the floor. "…Oh… right… I apologize. I should have been paying more attention." Neinheart turned red again.

"Hawww!" Tru laughed, "Naw, I shouldn't be kicking doors around anyway. I just got this one fixed!" Tru proudly remarked.

Neinheart stared at the door, "Pray do tell, what caused it to break?"

"Well… It all started around two AM on a Friday night." Tru started off.

"So you were drunk as per usual."

"Not drunk! TISPY!" Tru retorted, "Man Neiiiiinheart, it's like you don't give me any credit of any sort."

Neinheart stared at him spitefully, "I sure am glad you caught THAT one. Let's see how many more you can catch."

"Old habits die hard Neinny."

"TRU!" Neinheart snapped again. He had been gone for two and a half years and it was like he never left. The house just changed into a disaster that was all. Neinheart wasn't sure if he welcomed this feeling or denied it, but he did notice it.

Tru would spend a good portion of the afternoon talking about how his business had grown. Neinheart was even shocked to realize that the knights had actually used his business before. More importantly, when he sat down and thought about it, he recalled the large man that delivered "that" letter actually gave information from 10 Boogies before , using Tru's very service! So the chance of Tru at least knowing who the man was seemed likely. All he needed now was a chance to bring it up, but for some reason, simply cutting the chase with his cousin seemed like something he couldn't do. He sat and listened to Tru talk about the past few years for quite a while.

After a good hour or two, Tru finally sat down, "Well, that's about all for me!" He said, "How about you? You doin anything cool these days?"

Neinheart adjusted his monocle a bit, "Well, I can't give much information, as a lot of it is classified, however, I will say that I have indeed taken notice of your business's benefits. "

"Ah? Really? I don't seem to ever recall you being one of my clients…" Tru thought to himself out loud.

"Sort of indirectly." Neinheart said, "To be short about it, I'm working with the empress of Maple world as her tactician. I manage any and all information we receive and set the knights out on the proper path." He sighed, "However, some knights can be a bother at time…" He looked at Tru, "But yes, since you gave your business a formal name, I do recall seeing it a few times. You have helped us out quite a bit…"

Tru was in shock, "Man, really? You… You're workin a pretty big job there pal!" He slammed his arm on his desk, "I can barely manage this at time, and I don't see how you do it!"

Neinheart's face grew unimpressed again, "Well, keeping things organized like I did years ago would help."

"Naw, I get too busy for that!" tru perked up, "I'll get by!" He then waved his hand a bit, "But still, if you're really in that position and the empress needs my help, let me know and I'll wave the charge. I've gotten pretty big so I know it can't be a cheapie all the time, but for you and the empress, I see a good cause in that!"

"That's good." Neinheart said, "Because that's actually one of the reasons I came here today."

Tru perked his ears a bit, "Really? What information could you want from this man personally?"

"Well…" Neinheart pulled the scroll out, "I received this." He handed it over. "I… I am not sure. What I'm supposed to think about it." He said in a low voice, "However!" His voice perked up again, "I need to know if this information is legitimate or not."

Tru took the scroll and read over it. "Ahhh, yeah. The seal stones, right? You know where one is?"

Neinheart's eyes opened wide, "Y-You know about them?"

"Yeah." Tru said, "I managed to find one awhile back, but I hid it safely. I know the black wings are after them, but I don't know why."

Neinheart almost felt time hold still. Surely… surely his cousin didn't just decide to get involved with something as dangerous as the seal stones. "Th-Then let me ask you this…" He asked nervously, "If you know about them, why did you look into them in the first place? Was it the man who delivered this letter's fault?"

"Man who…" Tru looked at Neinheart and back at the letter, "Oohhh!" Tru suddenly gave a slight wince, "Yeah, I think I see where this is going." Tru said. He stood up, "First, let me go get some drinks. This may take a bit to explain."

Neinheart watched nervously as Tru went and grabbed two cups of water for the two of them. "It's all water, pal." He advised. "I'm well beyond the point of trying to spike your drinks. Especially if it's something this serious we're talkin about."

As the two settled in, Tru took a small sip of water. "I am almost sure you know who is going to come up in this conversation. Is this going to bother you any?"

"Considering their name is on the letter, I don't see why now would make any difference." Neinheart remarked.

"Yeah, I guess… Just checkin though." He clapped his hands together, "Now, Neinheart, I'm not going to try to pull a fast one on you. What I am telling you is the truth." He said, "What would you think if I told you that I still believed in the heroes?"

"I would call you a mad man." Neinheart spoke sharply, "Our clan looked for them for years and we found nothing. We're not going to make any progress by waiting for something that doesn't exist."

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong Neinheart." Tru said, "You closed yourself off to them shortly after you left the island. Whether this has more to do with them being the breaking force between you and Lilin, I don't know, but I know that after we left the island, you didn't even care to talk about them."

Neinheart let out a silent growl to himself, "Tch… She chose to wait. If she wants to be a dreamer, she can. She's the one who chose to look like a fool."

Tru leaned back a bit, "Chose to look like a fool? Yeah… she did that. But!" He remarked ina loud voice, "She proved us all wrong."

Neinheart's face grew confused. He even felt his own heart skip a beat. "Wh-what?"

"She proved us wrong." Tru said as he leaned forward again, "Neinheart, that man that delivered the letter to you… he was one of them."

Neinheart's felt a wave of surprise catch over him as he looked down to the letter, "You… you can't be serious—"

"I didn't believe it at first either…" Tru said, "But, apparently he showed up frozen in ice not far from a giant polearm Lilin found." Tru looked at Neinheart, "Do you remember Neinheart? One of the heroes of legend wielded one of those. The great warrior Aran."

Neinheart looked down at the letter, "So… this letter… and the seal stones… it's…"

"It's all real." Tru remarked, "Fighting the Black Mage is this man's destiny and Lilin and I have been doing our best to help him along the way."

"Then why didn't he say so?" Neinheart yelled, almost like he wasn't buying any of this.

"Ah, right, about that..." Tru rubbed his neck, "When he woke up on Rien, he had no memories of anything. He didn't even recognize his own weapon." He shook his head, "look, you wanna read a letter I got from Lilin when I first met him?"

Neinheart nodded a bit.

Tru dug through his desk and found a small envelope. "Here ya go. It's a bit more informal than the scroll you got, but I'm guessing it's because we're already on familiar terms."

Neinheart opened the letter and read it. The handwriting matched the letter that he had received, confirming that Lilin was the original writer of the letter he had received. He glanced over it and read everything in Lilin's voice as he could remember it. It was strange… In the letter, she sounded really happy, but for some reason, he couldn't recall Lilin being the "happy" sort at all…He sighed and handed the letter back to Tru. "So… The hero Aran delivered this message to me." He read over it again.

This meant that the threat of the Black Wings appearing in Ereve was true! Neinheart stood up, "Tru, I deeply apologize that I must cut this short, but now that I have confirmation that this is true, I have to go mobilize the knights before something happens."

Tru waved his hands, "Sure! You got a job to do and so do I!" He laughed, "Although it's only thirty minutes till closing….maybe… I could close early." He spoke in an optimistic voice.

"Don't party too hard, you still have work tomorrow." Neinheart scolded.

"Ahh, don't worry about me." Tru laughed, "You just worry about you."

Neinheart shook his head a bit before walking towards the door. But before he could make it fully there, he heard Tru's voice again.

"Hey Neinheart!" He yelled out.

Neinheart turned around, "Yes?"

"Tell me… now that you know the heroes are real, what do you think about them?"

Neinheart stayed quiet, "I… I understand their destiny and their deeds of the past but I really can't bring myself to care for them as much as you and Lilin would like me to…" He said quietly.

Tru raised a brow and shrugged, "Alright then. I was just curious. Don't be so closed up this time, write every so often if ya can."

Neinheart took a slight bow, "Well, good bye for now. If I make time to write, I suppose I can try."

As Neinheart left Tru's office and hurried to the ship to Ereve again, a thought crossed his mind. A thought he would never have the courage to tell anyone. Although he may not be able to admire the heroes like the rest of his clan did, he could personally respect Aran. If anything, at least it made him feel a bit happier to know that someone could make his sister content. This was all he ever really wanted for her…

Like Aran's warning had said, someone did target the stone. Luckily, a rising knight managed to locate and recover the stone safely. Neinheart assumed that the shape shifter snuck on the island while he was away as he banned off anyone from leaving or entering Ereve as soon as he returned.

As he placed the stone in a much safer location, known only to him and Cygnus, he decided he should find time to write a letter. He sat down and wrote a quick invitation letter to Aran, expressing that he would like to find a way to possibly reward Aran for his warning. He had one of the birds of Ereve fly off and sent the letter to him personally.

At first, he felt like Aran had denied the invitation. He took a great amount of relief when he saw Aran arrive. Unlike before, Neinheart tried to find hero like traits of him by looking. His height was certainly impressive, considering he had a few inches on top of Neinheart, and his armor was certainly decorative… but more importantly it was the aura that surrounded him. It was vicious, yet calm. Like a wolf quietly watching something from the distance. Neinheart also knew that wolves could be interesting to watch or even get close to on the right days, but then there were just those times where they gave off wrong impressions.

"Ah, Yes, You must be Aran, correct?" Neinheart stood up.

"Yes." The man confirmed. He didn't say anything else or show signs of going to say something else. Neinheart figured he wasn't much of a talker.

"Well, as you warned, the stone was sought after by the black wings." He started, "And without your timely warning, we may have missed this. So on behalf of the empress, I give you my deepest gratitude." He made a deep bow.

Aran simply stood there, unable to think of a proper response to this.

"Also, I do believe that on a personal note, I treated you quiet poorly last time." He looked at Aran, "I was thrown off by that aura of yours, however, upon further investigation; I saw my fears were unfounded. I can fully understand why you would have the information you gave to me. This said, I do not wish for that to be something that cuts ties between us." He said. "This said, I would like to give you a personal training lesson. As the trainer of the chief knights, I do believe I can possibly help you uncover some of your potential."

Aran's eyes perked up a bit, "But I use a polearm. I don't think your knights use tha—"

"You'd be surprised." Neinheart chuckled, "I happen to know quite a bit about polearms. I also know you can use all the training you can get, wouldn't you agree?"

Aran looked at his pole arm and back at Neinheart. Ideally, he should have said no. He didn't like the thought of being trained by someone that accused him of being part of the Black Wings, but something about Neinheart seemed genuine. Like he really wanted to make up for his mistake. But more importantly, he felt like saying no to him would be letting someone else down. He just didn't know who. "Alright." He said with a calm smirk, "I'm willing to give this a shot."

Neinheart nodded, "Good in that case, let's start up right away…" Neinheart said. He set his book down and looked over to the chief knights, "I'm stepping out for a bit to help this man over here. You five are to watch over and make sure nothing happens. "

"Yes sir!" The four of them rang together, with Eckhart sitting in the tree just nudging at his mask as a sign of acceptance.

Neinheart walked off with Aran hoping that if he couldn't help his sister directly, he could be happy enough if he could find a way to indirectly help her, and making sure Aran was the best hero he could be was a good start.


End file.
